


Last Chance

by Lefaym



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Canon Disabled Character, Canon Jewish Character, Grimdark Timeline, M/M, Old mutants in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 06:37:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2763317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lefaym/pseuds/Lefaym
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They don't know when or if they'll have the chance again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Chance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mabyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mabyn/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Remembered Tomorrows](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2691380) by [Lefaym](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lefaym/pseuds/Lefaym). 



> Hi Mabyn! This is a little companion piece to your main secret mutant gift! I really wanted to incorporate some sexytimes into the main fic, based on what you wrote in your letter, but in the end, I felt like it just didn't fit into that one. So here is a little offering to make up for that lack -- it's based on one of the memories Charles projects to Erik from the grimdark timeline.
> 
> Many thanks to in_the_bottle for her super-quick last-minute beta!

The farmhouse is the only structure for nearly fifty miles that hasn’t been obliterated by the Sentinels. It’s dangerous, staying here, but the Blackbird needs repairs that can’t be done in the air, and all of them are so very weary. Perhaps they can’t afford this stop, but they need it.

Erik and Ororo work together to give them cover. Ororo summons an electrical storm five hundred miles wide, and Erik casts his senses out into it. He manipulates the subtle electro-magnetic fields in the clouds, just enough to confuse the Sentinels’ detectors, at least for a while. It’s a dangerous strategy -- the Sentinels will figure it out soon enough, and their detectors will adapt. They won’t be able to hide this way again. But for now, they have time.

Ororo slumps against him when they’re done; she’s extended her powers almost as far as they can go, and now the storm will have to blow itself out. Erik catches her, helps her into the house, where Katherine, Bobby, and the Wolverine work together to take her to one of the abandoned bedrooms. In the midst of it, Charles catches his eye and smiles, and a sharp needle of regret pierces Erik’s abdomen. He has fought alongside all of them for years now, but he wonders how differently this sad story might have played out had he been there to teach them, too; if he had been there to guide Storm as she found her strength, to watch Katherine as she became Shadowcat.

 _You’re here now,_ Charles projects to him.

Erik nods and even manages to smile back before he turns back to the door -- his own work for the night is not finished yet.

Inside the Blackbird, he extends his senses again, searching for broken connections and loose circuits. When he finds the problem, he sends instructions to Charles with his mind, and five minutes later, Katherine joins him. They work together to fix the fault; she slips into the machinery so that she can adjust the plastics and polymers that Erik can’t touch, while Erik takes care of the wiring and welding. They work together in companionable silence for the most part, speaking only when it’s necessary to coordinate their actions.

When she’s done, she wishes him _Laila Tov_ , which she only does when it’s just the two of them, and Erik responds in kind. He will miss her greatly, he thinks, when she and Bobby go to join Bishop’s team.

Erik smooths out the last few dented panels on his own, and when he returns to the house, drenched from the pouring rain, Charles is the only one waiting up for him.

“You should be resting,” Erik chides him. Goodness knows, Charles works harder than any of them, searching, always searching for anyone who might remain.

“Forgive an old man for not wanting to go to bed alone.”

Erik shakes his head, but he can’t help but smile. He feels warmth building in his chest, and he wonders how it is that they can have this now, while the world crumbles around them; surely they don’t deserve as much. 

But, here it is. Here they are.

 _Help me along, love,_ says Charles in his head.

Erik waves his hand, and Charles’ chair turns toward the bedroom that has been designated as theirs. It isn’t often that Charles lets him do this, let alone asks -- there really is little reason for it. But Charles has not broken the connection between their minds, and Erik can feel a desperate longing in him. Charles may be able to hold onto hope even in the darkest of times, but he is also tired and sad and he wants to know that Erik is _there_ , that his sense of Erik’s mind isn’t a delusion that he’s conjured to help him sleep.

Charles lets Erik help him prepare for bed, too. It takes Erik only seconds to remove his metal-laced armor, and then there are the various other unglamorous tasks that need to be taken care of before they can retire.

When Erik finally sets Charles down on the mattress, Charles reaches up to him, twines his fingers in Erik’s hair, and pulls him in. Erik’s back complains, but he goes along with it anyway. Their mouths clash together awkwardly as Erik is pulled off-balance, but Charles’ breath is warm, and heat begins to pool in Erik’s stomach when Charles projects an image at him of the two of them, tangled together…

Erik pulls back. “Charles?” 

“This might be our last chance,” says Charles. There’s a catch in his voice then, something uncertain and fearful. Erik knows he’s the only one Charles ever allows to witness this; with everyone else, he is so wise and calm, never wavering as he leads them.

And Charles is right, too, this could be their last time. Any of them could die tomorrow. Even if they don’t, who knows when they’ll be alone again? Suddenly it doesn’t seem to matter that Erik is tired and aching, or that his back has seen far better days than this. He leans into Charles again, and catches his mouth. He shifts himself properly onto the bed and runs his hands over Charles’ skin. He cries out when Charles grips his arms too tightly and pulls a nerve in his shoulder.

Charles makes it up to him though. He has always been far too skilled with his mouth, and that hasn’t changed over the years. But Erik can’t hold this position for too long, no matter how good it feels, so he pulls back from Charles and aligns their bodies again. He turns his attention to Charles’ neck, just behind his ear, and he hears Charles moan in response.

“Oh, my love,” says Charles in his ear. “My love, my darling.” In his head Erik can hear, _IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou,_ and he aches and wishes that they could have been like this with each other during their many trysts over the years; if only there hadn’t been so much anger and hurt between them.

But there is no changing that now, so Erik simply thrusts into Charles’ hand as hard as his back and sore hip will allow him to. He lets Charles into his head as completely as he can, and tries to catch Charles’ most sensitive places with his mouth. In the end, it’s enough, it’s more than enough. They cry out together as Charles’ telepathy brings them into sync for one glorious moment, and then Erik allows himself to collapse, his head coming to rest on Charles’ shoulder.

Charles’ hand comes up to stroke his head, his fingers running through Erik’s hair. Erik finds himself swallowing a lump in his throat as the words, _If only, if only, if only,_ run through his mind. Or perhaps it’s Charles’ mind; he can’t quite tell. There is so much that both of them would change, if they could.

The rain beats down on the farmhouse roof and thunder rumbles high above them. Erik allows his eyes to close; he feels Charles’ projected thoughts become slower and more surreal before the link between them slips away. Erik takes Charles’ hand in his own, and because he can do nothing else for now, he prays that it is not too late for all of them.


End file.
